Garment hanger attachment



United States Patent James H. Wright Albany, California (P.0. Box 641 Station A Richmond, Calif. 94808) 829,645 June 2,1969 Nov. 3, 1970 Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented GARMENT HANGER ATTACHMENT 10 Claims, 10 Drawing Figs.

0.8. CI. 223/95 Int. Cl A47j 51/094, A47j 51/14 Field of Search 223/91, 95, 88

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,129,455 9/1938 Wisehart et a1 223/91 2,435,111 1/1948 Wahl 223/95 2,907,505 10/1959 Kinsey 223/95 3,385,487 5/1968 King 223/95 Primary Examiner-Jordan Franklin Assistant Examiner--George H. Krizmanich Attarney-Milmore and Cypher ABSTRACT: A garment hanger with a pair of depending members slidably mounted on the horizontal wire in an arrangement wherein the depending members may be manually slid away from each other internally of the waistband or cuff of a garment and will automatically lock in position to support the garment.

Patented "Nov. 3 1970 3,537,626

Sheet or 3 v INVENTOR.

8 /F g 4 la Bi/AMESH WEIGHT Attorneys Patented 'Nov. 3, 1970 Sheet ors INVENTOR. (M4455 WRIGHT Attorneys Patented Nov. 3, 1970 3,537,626

Sheet 5 or s I NVENTOR.

I (JAMES H. WEIGHT Attorneys 1 GARMENTI-IANGER' ATTACHMENT BACKGROUND or THE INVENTION Many devices have been-invented foruse with the common wire coat hanger for-adapting it to the holding of skirts and trousers. The prior devices have either been too expensive, or too difficult to attach and-remove from the hanger.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The gist of this invention is the unique configuration enabling the devices to be easily attached to'the hanger and moved into a securely locked position for holding a garment. Further, the device may be manufacturedeconomically.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the device with a-garment and a hand shown in phantom to illustrate the use of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevation view of the'device of the present invention with a portion in phantom line to illustrate the initial and sprung position of the device.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of the device taken substantially along line 3-3 of'FlG. 2 h I FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the device taken substantially along line 4-4 of FIG. 2"with portions in section.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the invention shown in the previous FIGS. with hands in phantom line to illustrate the method of moving the devices.

FIG. 6 is ,a perspective'view of the invention with a hand shown in phantom line toillustrate the method of attaching the device to a garment'hanger.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the invention with a hand shown in phantom line to. illustrate a step in attaching the device to a garment hanger.

FIG. 8 is a sideelevation view of an alternative form of the device. I

FIG. 9 is a perspective view ofanother alternative form of the device.

FIG. 10 is a bottom view of a portion of the devicetalsen substantially along line 10-40 of FIG. 9.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS or THE INVENTION This invention is for use with a hanger which has a horizontal wire' member. The conventional triangular wire coat hanger as shown serves very well; The attachment consists briefly of an elongated body member 1 providing a contact point 2 with the underside of the wire 3; means 4 for gripping a garment 6 located on the body member; a first hook shaped member7 extending upwardly from the body member and over the wire and being longitudinally spaced from the contact point; a projecting member 8 I extending from the body member spaced longitudinally of the hook member in contact with the wire opposite to the first hook; a spring arm 9 extending from the body longitudinally ofthe wire; a second hook shaped member 11 locatedon thespring arm and extending upwardly and over the wire; and the spring arm having a first position positioning the second hook below the wire and the arm bending to a second position in engagement with the wire.

The device may be constructed of various materials such as wood metal or plastic. Preferably, a high impact polystyrene is used although devices made from polypropylene will also work. The body isiconstructed to give it sufficient rigidity to resist bending of the garment supporting means. This may be accomplished byadding a greater quantity of material or by forming a structural web 12 as shown in the drawings which runs the length of the body member. Ribs l3 and 14 on the longitudinal sides of the body and ribs 16 and 17 on the bottom further give rigidness.

The spring arm may be'rna'de by presenting a lesser amount of material or, as shown, decreasing the width of the web member 18 depending from the arm.

hook members is important to the ability of the device to tact with the wire, the spring arm bows toward the bottom of the paper as shown in the drawing in FIG. 4 as seen in the curvature of the center line of the spring arm 21. The main lateral pressures of the wire are against face 19 of the projection and faces 22 and 23 of the hooks. Stated in another way, the transverse distance between astraight line drawn between the inside faces of the hooks and the inside face of the projection is less than the outside diameter of the wire. In summary, a

lateral bow is placed in the spring arm which grips the wire and prevents the device from falling off the wire.

Longitudinal slippage of the device along the wire is prevented by a unique combination of elements in thestructure. First, the spring arm in the unstressed position takes the shapes as shown by the dotted lines in FIG. 2. When the end of the-arm is hooked over the wire as shown in the solid line position, the top of the arm 24 at the body end is brought into contact with the bottom of the wire. At the same time, the bottom face 25 of the first hook is brought into-contact with the top of the wire. These faces together with the bottom face 26 of the second hook resist longitudinal sliding on the wire. The vertical distance between the top of the amend the bottom face of the first hook is rather critical and must be sufficient to permit the wire to be easily slid intothe hook portion. If the distance is too great, however, the device will not resist longitudinal sliding.

I Applicant has achieved a means of meeting the production problems of achieving this critical dimension by molding the device so that a projection providing a single contact point previously designated 2) contacts the wire instead of a large area of the wire.

Theneck 28 of the first book should be resilient and be able to stretch when the spring arm is brought into engagement with the wire. When the device is loaded with a garment, the device as shown in FIG. 2 tends to rotate in a clockwise direction thereby increasing the load of the point contact on the underside of the wire,and the pressure of the bottom face of the first hook on the top of thewire. Thus, the greater the load, the greater the frictional force exerted on the wire by the twisting of the device between these two faces.

In order for the device to remain on the wire, it is necessary for the underside of the face on the second hook to contact the wire at its uppermost point. It has been found however, that in order to compensate for lateral shifting of the second hook, it is necessary to extend the hook endwell beyond the center line of the wire.

It makes little difference whether the spring arm extends from theupper or lower portion of the body member. In FIGS. 1 through 7, the spring arm extends from the upper end so that the spring arm lays just below the wire.

-In FIG. 8,'an alternative form of the device is shown which corresponds in its functional parts to the form above described. Corresponding parts are labeled with the same corresponding numbers with the addition of a prime mark to designate the alternative form. The use of the form shown in FIG. 8 with its greatly expanded web portion on the body gives enough flat area to permit the printing of a brief advertising message. The only functional difference is in the fact that the body member is wide enough that the garment holding means extends well beyond the end of the hanger thereby making it possible to hang trousers or skirts that are wider at their waist band or. cuff than the length of the horizontal wire in the hanger.

As shown in the drawings, as for example FIG. 2, the lower end of the body dependsangularly outwardly from below the first hook. This relation between the garment holding portion and the part of the device which grips the wire provides a moment arm such that the heavier the garment, the greater the amount of twisting force that is applied at the gripping first hook. The angular relationship also presents the gripping means at a more favorable angle. Various shapes of grippers could be used but it has been found that by molding the gripping means to form a plurality of inverted half pyramids with their apexes extending outwardly from the body member serves as an excellent holding means.

The grippers are similar also in shape to the bow of a ship with a leading edge 41 sloping faces 42 and 43 joining the body at intersections 46 and 45. The flat surfaces 47 are on top and the planesmeet in relatively sharp points 48.

FIG. 1 illustrates a method of inserting the devices into the waistband of a skirt. A hand is shown in phantom line with the thumb pressed against the underside of the hanger. As the middle of the hanger is bent upwardly, the device on the right rotates clockwise and the device on the left rotates counterclockwise. This decreases the effective distance between the gripping means and the devices can then be slipped into the skirt waistband. When the thumb releases the pressure on the wire, the devices spread outwardly again and contact the skirt waistband.

FIG. 5 shows the manner'in which the device may be slid along the wire. The hand at the right is shown pulling the device in the direction shown by arrow A and the hand at the left shows the device being pushed in the direction shown by arrow 8". The smaller arrows C and D merely show that the body may be moved laterally.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate the extreme case in attaching the device to the hanger which is one of the major features of the invention. As shown, the body portion is grasped by the fingers and the device is moved upwardly under the wire in a nonparallel relation so that the wire comes between the projection and the first hook. As shown in FIG. 7, the thumb is then brought to bear against the underside of the spring arm and moved upwardly and toward the wire. As the arm passes under the wire, it is pushed upwardly until the mouth of the hook is brought even with the elevation of the wire. The pres sure of the thumb is released and the hook springs back automatically into engagement with the wire. Where the tolerances are such that the mouth of the hook opening is slightly less than the diameter of the wire, it is necessary to push the hook into a snap fit engagement with the wire.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show another alternative form of the device which is especially adaptable for gripping the cuffs of trousers so that a pair of trousers can be hung by the cuii's on n conventional wire hanger rather than draping the legs overthe wire. The elements used to grip the wire are the same as the elements identified above and rather than repeat the elements, the parts are assigned the same numbers as their counter parts with the addition of a double prime mark The distinguishing feature of the trouser hanger is the double leg 51 and 52 which consists of webs 53 and 54, strengthened by ribs 56 and 57. The legs are joined by a yoke 58 joined to the spring arm.

Because of the difficulties in molding the device from plastic, it is necessary to keep the inner faces 61 and 62 of the web smooth thus necessitating a different type of gripping tooth. As here shown, the tooth is somewhat similar to one half the bow of a ship consisting of a surface 63 and slant face 6 intersecting in a point 66 which holds the garment.

I claim:

1. In combination with a coat hanger having an elongated horizontal member; means for supporting a garment on said horizontal member comprising two substantially identical devices to be removably and longitudinally adjustably mounted on said horizontal member, each having:

a. an elongated body member providing a contact point with the underside of said horizontal member;

b. means for gripping said garment located on said body member;

c. a first hook shaped member extending upwardly from said body member and over said horizontal member and being longitudinallg spaced from said contact point; d. a pro ecting mem er extending from said body member spaced longitudinally of said hook member in contact with said horizontal member opposite said first-hook;

e. a spring arm extending from said body longitudinally of said horizontal member;

f. a second hook shaped member-located on said spring arm and extending upwardly and over said horizontal member; and

' g. said spring arm having a first position positioning said second hook below said horizontal member and a second position in engagement with said horizontal member when said arm is bent upwardly.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said projecting member extends transversely of said longitudinally extending arm causing said arm to bend transversely when said second hook engages said horizontal member of said hanger.

3. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said contact is a point contact projection extending from said body member.

4. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said second hook end extends transversely beyond said horizontal member of said coat hanger.

5. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said spring arm extends from the upper portion of said body member.

6. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein the lower end of said body member depends angularly outwardly from below said first hook.

7. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said spring arms extends from the lower portion of said body member.

8. A device an defined in claim 1 wherein said gripping means consists of a plurality of inverted half pyramids with their apexcs extending outwardly from said body member.

9. A device as defined in claim ll wherein said devices are made from high impact polystyrene plastic.

10. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said body member consists of a pair of depending legs having means for gripping and each leg gripping one side of a trouser leg. 

